“Sounds like life’s been pretty rough for her.”
Angela sensed that he was completely baffled by her friendships with both Cat and Maddie. The three of them came from such different walks of life. To this day, Angela was amazed that, despite their disparate economic backgrounds, both Cat and Maddie experienced abusive relationships.
“It has,” Angela replied softly, “but she’s finally bouncing back. Cat was a big help at first in terms of explaining what Maddie had to do to break away. But Cat can only do so much. The rest is up to Maddie. Since her family disagrees with her decision to divorce Tad, she’s really withdrawn from most of her old life and friends.” Her heart ached for her friend as she admitted, “I should have done more for her, but I was so busy with my own life. Even now, when I want to help, I’m too far away to provide the constant support she needs to remain strong against her family’s demands.”
“How dangerous is her ex?” Chase wondered if Cat would bring trouble to Maddie’s doorstep if she really was that fragile.
“He’s like that guy from Sleeping with the Enemy,” she finally answered. When Chase looked at her blankly, she tried again. “You know the Julia Roberts movie where she fakes her death to escape her abusive husband?”
Chase shook his head. “Sorry, babe. I don’t catch many chick flicks. I’m more of the shoot ‘em kind of guy.”
“Well,” Angela paused while she thought about how much to share. “Maddie’s husband is the only child of extremely wealthy parents. He’s used to getting whatever he wants, and when he doesn’t, he makes someone else pay. Maddie is a strong woman with her own thoughts and beliefs. Once they were married, he expected her to adopt his opinions and views whether she agreed with them or not. She refused and he started abusing her, verbally at first, then physically and sexually. He finally beat her so badly one night that the butler drove her to the hospital because he was afraid she was dying. He dropped her at the emergency room, where the doctors contacted the police since she had no identification. Once she regained consciousness, she contacted Cat.”
Angela paused in her recitation to brush away the tears that had leaked from her eyes, and Chase enveloped her in his warm embrace, comforting her the only way he could. “God, Chase, she was in such bad shape. Cat flew out to see her right away and had her transferred to a private facility equipped to handle her physical and emotional needs. Maddie was a broken shell. She spent six months there before she felt strong enough to leave and file for divorce. Her parents had a fit. They demanded that she return to Tad. Even when she showed them her medical file, they insisted the marriage could be fixed. Montgomerys do not get divorced, they told her. They were more concerned about the scandal than Maddie.” She snuggled against Chase, resting her cheek against his muscular chest, his strong, steady heartbeat comforting her.
“How bad were her physical injuries?” Chase rubbed a hand up and down her back.
Under different circumstances, she might have purred with pleasure. Instead, she remembered how frail Maddie had looked when she visited her in the hospital. “Several broken ribs, a punctured lung, internal bleeding, and a concussion along with a fractured skull. They had to remove her spleen as well.”
Angela could feel Chase’s muscles tense for a fight and sighed. A part of her was thrilled that he would react so strongly on behalf of her friend, but she lacked the energy to soothe his anger. She felt enough rage of her own every time she thought about how Maddie had suffered. “What happened to him? Is he in jail?” Chase’s voice sounded harsh in the quiet of the hotel room.
“Jail?” Angela asked, amazed that he had even asked the question. Did he not understand who Tad was? She laughed mirthlessly. “Thaddeus Carrington in jail?” She shook her head vigorously. “Never going to happen.”
“What do you mean?” Chase asked as he pulled back from Angela and tipped her chin up so he could look her in the eye. “You said the hospital contacted the police. They had to have filed charges against him.”
“Cat and Maddie tried,” Angela announced, pushing away from him and pacing across the room, anger warring with frustration. “But the prosecuting attorney decided they didn’t have enough evidence after the Carrington family made a substantial contribution to his re-election campaign fund.”
“You’re kidding me,” he demanded. Angela could see the moment he recognized the truth of her statement. Money all too often bought forgiveness or at least exoneration. He shook his head as if to clear it before raising his eyes to meet her angry ones. He nodded once, acknowledging the truth of her statement without words. “You should call Maddie and see if Cat’s with her. Maybe Mac sent the software engineer, not the chip, to Cat.”
She pondered the idea. “It’s possible,” she admitted. “Dad knows Cat can take care of herself. Very few people are aware of our friendship. The mere idea of Dad sending this software guy to Cat is so far-fetched that no one would even consider it. Besides me, that is.” Wrinkling her nose, she looked up at him through her lashes. “I probably can’t get in touch with Maddie though.”
He raised one eyebrow and waited for an explanation.
“She doesn’t have a landline in the cottage, and the cell phone reception there is real spotty. I’ll try to call her, but I doubt her phone will ring. And I can’t email her because she doesn’t have internet service up there. The cabin’s real isolated.”
“Wait!” Chase interjected. “I thought her ex was still looking for her. You said she was hiding out?” Angela nodded, a slight smile crossing her face. She knew precisely where Chase was going with this conversation. “She has protection then, right? I mean, she’s not living in the middle of nowhere without phone service alone.” When Angela failed to respond, he prompted her by saying, “Right?”
“Wrong,” Angela replied holding out her hands in a calm-down gesture. “I understand your point. Believe me, I do. Cat and I made the same very valid points early on, but Maddie wants to be alone right now. She doesn’t trust anyone, other than us. Tad’s whole staff knew what he was doing, and they let him abuse her without helping her. The butler only intervened because he was afraid she was going to die that night. Besides, as she pointed out, the more services she has, the more of a paper trail there is. The cabin itself is pretty self-sufficient. It has a septic system, an independent well and its own generator. Besides, she’s taken several self-defense classes over the past year, and she has a couple of guns at the cabin. She’s actually a great shot.”
Angela waited as Chase leaned back on his elbows and looked up at the ceiling. A few minutes later, he pushed himself upright and rubbed his face with his hands. “Do you know how to get to Maddie’s place?”
Angela frowned and wandered over to the duffle bags. She focused on folding a shirt while she thought about how to respond. She wanted Chase to take her to Maddie’s, but she didn’t want to lie to him. She knew traveling was going to become more complicated now that her picture was all over the country. As different as she thought she looked with red hair, she knew changing her hair color wasn’t enough to avoid detection for a prolonged period of time.
“Well.” Angela closed her eyes and tried to remember Maddie’s instructions. The problem was she had absolutely no sense of direction. Finally, she sighed, admitting it was a hopeless effort. “I’ve only been to the cabin once and can’t remember how to get there. We can use a map to get to Thompson, but from there, we’ll just have to play it by ear. Maddie bought the old Thompson sawmill site. The sawmill owners created a tramway so the ships could come off the lake, cruise to the mill and load the lumber without venturing into the shallow waters near the shore. If we are on the lake, we should be able to find the channel.” She had absolutely no idea how she would find Maddie’s cottage from the road. All she remembered was lots of narrow, unmarked country roads.
Chase’s cell phone rang, interrupting their conversation. As he answered, Angela leaned against the window sill and mulled over what she knew. If she were in trouble
, she wouldn’t hesitate to turn to Cat or Maddie unless … well, unless she would put them in real danger. Going to see them now would put them in danger. But what if Cat had the chip or even the software guy like Chase suggested? Then she would be doing them a favor, right? Angela chewed on her lower lip until it started throbbing. Part of her wanted to talk about the issues with Chase and let him make the final call. The other part of her insisted that she remain independent. After all, she couldn’t afford to depend on a man who might turn and run from her at the first opportunity. The moment that thought entered her mind, Angela knew she was going to Maddie’s cottage. Right now she wasn’t sure of much, but she did know she could count on Maddie and Cat to help her always.
Chapter 25
The moment Chase answered, Zach demanded, “You used your own fuckin’ name in Manchester? What the hell were you thinking?”
“Sorry, Sir,” Chase admitted without hesitation. “But I couldn’t exactly gain Angela’s trust by lying to her about who I was, could I?”
“You never use your own name on an op. Shit, Romero. Where the hell was your head, soldier?” Zach snapped out.
“She knows your name,” Chase retorted.
“That’s different. Mac knew who I was, and there was never any reason to use a cover name around Angela. I saw her so infrequently anyway that I wasn’t even on her radar screen.” Zach growled and Chase winced. “Monroe’s going to be looking for you now that he suspects Angela is with you. I swear, if your screw up puts her in danger, they’ll never find your body,” Zach threatened, his voice dark with promise of retribution.
“Understood, Sir,” Chase acknowledged.
“We’ve got a bigger problem,” Zach admitted after a brief pause. “I ran into a couple of colleagues earlier today. We need to find the man who designed the software, the one Mac was protecting, ASAP.”
“I thought we were looking for the program itself,” Chase commented.
“Everyone pretty much agrees that the software itself is so small that finding it is like finding a needle in a haystack. It’s much harder to conceal a living person than a small computer chip.”
Chase paced across the room, keeping one eye on Angela. Things were heating up and he needed to get her out of the line of fire. They could only keep her hidden so long though. Zach was right. To ensure Angela’s safety, they had to locate the software and its creator.
“Talk to Angela. Whether she realizes it or not, she’s the key to finding the designer and the software. Your biggest problem is that everyone knows she’s the key. Mac painted a bull’s-eye on her back. She has to know more than she realizes.”
Chase heard Zach sigh and his eyes widened at the sound. Zach didn’t show emotion. In fact, the men joked that Zach was really a robot.
“Look, Chase, this is no longer fun and games. My sources informed me that this program could seriously affect the economy worldwide.”
“How so?”
Zach paused for a moment and Chase knew he was picking his words carefully. Often that meant that Zach didn’t have enough information but knew enough to start piecing the puzzle together. Chase could only imagine how many agencies were involved in the mess at the moment if things were as dangerous as Zach had implied. “I don’t have all the information yet. I’m hearing different things from different sources. But everyone seems to think the software can be used to manipulate the financial markets in a way that mimics the natural crashes that occur when a large group of people sell a stock over a very short period of time. Think of it as a software similar to the ones used for automatic trading programs, only this one can handle a large volume of stocks at the same time. Do you remember hearing about incidents where one or two stocks crashed to almost zero value?”
Chase made a noncommittal sound of agreement in hopes of encouraging Zach to continue. He had a feeling he knew where Zach was going with this.
“Now imagine a software program that could crash the entire Fortune 500 instead of one or two stocks. Chaos would ensue. People and other governments would lose faith in our economy. Reversing all the trades and transactions on that scale would be challenging enough, but the psychological impact on the market would be devastating and long lasting. Capital would leave at a rate never seen before and the downstream effect would paralyze our economy.”
“Shit,” Chase breathed as the reality hit home. This was big, as big in many ways as an attack on U.S. soil. If an enemy got its hands on the software, it could topple the U.S. economy. It was a far better way to destroy the U.S. than a physical attack. The loss of life and infrastructure would be almost negligible for the enemy.
“Now do you see why it’s so important to keep an eye on Angela? Aside from the fact that others will hurt her if necessary to find the software, she may be the only one who could lead us to it. I’m not the only one who knows that Mac was assigned to protect the software and its creator. Both are gone and Mac’s dead. He mentioned Angela’s name in that voicemail, so right now it’s our best clue. Others will eventually look to Angela for information. You need to take her underground.”
“I’m working on it, Boss.” Chase lowered his voice and turned away so Angela couldn’t hear. “Angela wants to visit another friend of hers. I’m starting to think it might be a good idea. She lives in an out of the way place, which should be safe enough for now. It’ll buy you some time to locate the software. Plus, we’ll be able to check out the possibility that Mac sent a clue about the software or its designer to her friend.”
“Get moving then,” Zach ordered. “The FBI’s probably running your aliases as we speak.”
“Grab your stuff, Angel,” Chase demanded as soon as he disconnected.
“What’s going on?” Angela threw her clothes in the duffle before hurrying to the bathroom to gather her toiletries.
“I used my real name in Manchester. You mentioned it to Sheriff Bates, and somehow the FBI found out. They’ve connected me to Zach. That means they’ll be running all my aliases. We need to go now.” Chase finished collecting their stuff and checked his weapon before glancing at Angela and nodding toward her waist. She rolled her eyes but lifted her shirt, showing him that she was wearing the gun as promised. An almost smile crossed his face as he slung both duffle bags over his shoulder leaving Angela her purse and the laptop case. “Let’s get the hell out of Dodge.” He extended a hand and tugged her to the door.
“Where are we going?” Angela asked as they made their way to the circular drive at the front of the hotel.
“On a date.” Chase’s eyes twinkled. “Aren’t you having fun?” he teased. Angela shrugged, her confusion obvious. “Chase?”
He nuzzled her ear. “We’re going to hop on that bus.” A glossy, black charter bus idled in front of the main doors to the hotel. “And go for a ride. I’ll explain more later, okay?” Chase ambled over and ushered Angela up the stairs.
“Hey, this isn’t an airport bus,” the driver objected.
Chase shot him a dirty look. “Changing hotels,” he growled, and the driver paled.
A perfectly coiffed young blonde with ample cleavage cast a disparaging look at Angela as she trailed behind Chase. The blonde thrust her chest out and flashed her pearly whites at Chase. “This seat’s available, handsome,” she twittered, but Chase ignored her. He gestured for Angela to slide into a seat near the window. The blonde continued staring at them and Chase shot her a smile. With his eyes on the blonde’s, he grabbed Angela’s hand and raised it to his lips.
The blonde glared, and Angela shot her a beaming smile. “Where are we going?” she whispered, hiding her face against Chase’s shoulder to muffle her question.
“Gambling.” She glared, but he simply smiled and tucked a stray curl behind her ear before pulling out his phone and sending a quick text message to an old friend who might be able to help them get to Michigan.
As the bus sped north along Interstate 65, Angela snuggled against him. He rested his head against hers, periodically kissing her c
urls. The sound of the engine drowned out the other passengers’ chatter, and he felt Angela relax, falling asleep in his embrace.
Thirty minutes later, the shuttle drove up the long circular driveway and jerked to a stop under the deep red awning. As the door squeaked open, the driver announced in a loud booming voice, which jolted Angela awake, “Welcome to the casino. Please make sure to gather all your belongings. Busses depart every hour on the hour until two am. Enjoy your evening.”
Chapter 26
Still sleepy, Angela stumbled as she stood, and Chase wrapped an arm around her. When they stepped off the bus, Chase nudged her away from the other passengers who hurried toward the large glass doors. They rounded the still running bus, and Angela wrinkled her nose at the exhaust fumes as Chase guided her toward a set of stairs, leading the way down with her hand in his.
Angel on Fire Page 16
